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::snicker::
Jan. 11th, 2009 06:20 pmSo, Obama's decided the first foreign country he will visit country after his inauguration will be us. This is highly significant, because it underlines a very important political fact: we are right next door to the US.
Seriously, though, whatever. I mean, yeah, OK, it's nice that we're his first international stop, but it's not exactly stunning; four of the last seven Presidents made Canada their first foreign stop, mostly because we're right next door. Who else are they going to visit first? Sri Lanka?
I remember when Bush broke tradition and visited Mexico first. What a snub that was! Symbolic of how Canadian-American relations were going to deteriorate, and what his position was on the softwood lumber and northern sovereignty issues and blah blah blah. Hey, you know what? All of that could be true, or it could simply be that, as the man himself is from Texas, he's more used to thinking of Mexicans as his closest next-door neighbours, rather than Canadians. Or, as Chris put it, we got the First Visit Cookie enough times, now it was Mexico's turn.
There's a cute article on the topic linked to from Yahoo. OK, maybe it's not that cute, but it made me smile a couple times. Like when predicted that Obama's visit was "sure to be a trip that will make any other presidential visit in recent memory seem like an exercise in watching paint dry." Or when it went through relations between various American Presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers: Kennedy and Deifenbaker, who loathed each other; Reagan and Mulroney, who were big pals; Bush and Chretien, who weren't; Bush and Paul Martin, ( this picture never gets old for me ); and, my favourite, Nixon and Trudeau.
You know, Nixon, who called Trudeau an asshole. And Trudeau, who shrugged and responded, "I've been called worse names by better people."
Ah, Pierre. Didn't always agree with you, dude, but you sure had style ;)
Seriously, though, whatever. I mean, yeah, OK, it's nice that we're his first international stop, but it's not exactly stunning; four of the last seven Presidents made Canada their first foreign stop, mostly because we're right next door. Who else are they going to visit first? Sri Lanka?
I remember when Bush broke tradition and visited Mexico first. What a snub that was! Symbolic of how Canadian-American relations were going to deteriorate, and what his position was on the softwood lumber and northern sovereignty issues and blah blah blah. Hey, you know what? All of that could be true, or it could simply be that, as the man himself is from Texas, he's more used to thinking of Mexicans as his closest next-door neighbours, rather than Canadians. Or, as Chris put it, we got the First Visit Cookie enough times, now it was Mexico's turn.
There's a cute article on the topic linked to from Yahoo. OK, maybe it's not that cute, but it made me smile a couple times. Like when predicted that Obama's visit was "sure to be a trip that will make any other presidential visit in recent memory seem like an exercise in watching paint dry." Or when it went through relations between various American Presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers: Kennedy and Deifenbaker, who loathed each other; Reagan and Mulroney, who were big pals; Bush and Chretien, who weren't; Bush and Paul Martin, ( this picture never gets old for me ); and, my favourite, Nixon and Trudeau.
You know, Nixon, who called Trudeau an asshole. And Trudeau, who shrugged and responded, "I've been called worse names by better people."
Ah, Pierre. Didn't always agree with you, dude, but you sure had style ;)
